About:

Title: Reservoir Hill (Season #1)
Released: 2009

Fix: Veronica Mars On Crack
Platforms: None Currently

Netflix Summary:

When teen Beth Connolly moves to Reservoir Hill after her parents split up, she notices that everyone is staring at her, and she has no idea why. But soon she learns she’s the spitting image of a girl who disappeared a few months earlier.

FYA Summary:

A few weeks ago, I got an email from fellow YAngelist Deanne, who urged me to watch a show called Reservoir Hill. She mentioned that it’s set in New Zealand and features an MLD. Obvs, that’s all it took to convince me to check it out.

So, let me preface this by telling you something I did not realize going into this title. New Zealand TV be CRAZY, y’all. Like, I looked up Reservoir Hill on the internet, and I still can’t figure out the answers to some basic questions, such as:

1. Is this the pilot of the first season? If so, this show jumped the shark REALLY early.

2. Or, is this “episode” actually a compilation of the entire first season? And does that mean it started out as a web series?

3. There appears to be a second season, but does that just mean there’s another 65 minute “movie”? It’s not available on Netflix, because Netflix doesn’t like giving us what we want. *Cough Dance Academy S3 cough*.

Y’all, why is New Zealand TV so hard to understand? Do we have any Kiwis in the house that can explain this to me? I’M A DUMB AMERICAN.

I realize that all of that might discourage you from checking out Reservoir Hill, but the good news is that the storyline of this show is just as insane in the membrane as the structure of New Zealand television.

So, yeah, this is a show (TV movie? web series?!) about a girl, Beth, who moves to a new town to start a new life with her mom. But when she gets to school, she finds out that she looks EXACTLY like a girl, Tara, who disappeared months before. No one knows what happened to Tara, although everyone suspects that her MLD boyfriend, Matt, had something to do with it. Beth can’t seem to shake the ghost of Tara, so she decides to launch her own investigation, but as she unravels the mystery, shizz gets WEIRD.

Familiar Faces:

Unless you happen to live in New Zealand, you probably won’t recognize anyone, but you can fully expect to see several of these actors show up in future FYA book reports. Mostly because the majority of these girls have regular, a.k.a. non-model-skinny bodies. But also because NEW ZEALAND ACCENTS. In honor of their way of speaking, I’ve written out their character names as pronounced on the show.

Beth Chote as Bayth

Tim Kano as Maytt (Helloooo, MLD)

Greer Samuel as Simmy

Michelle Ny as MoNEEka

You know Creepy Asian Becca from Awkward? Well, MoNEEka could ice that bish with one swoop of her designer handbag. Girlfriend gave me THE CREEPS.

Couch-Sharing Capability: High

You’re going to spend about 99% of this show going, “SAY WHAT?” and “HOLD THE PHONE.” And it’s just sad to yell those phrases at an empty room.

Recommended Level of Inebriation: High

Look, this show is bonkers. Like, straight up B-A-N-A-N-A-S. And it is also bad. So you might as well continue the pattern with another “B” word: buzzed.

Use of Your Netflix Subscription: Shameful But Satisfying

Obviously, I don’t understand how NZ TV works, and I sure as hell don’t understand how this show works. It’s loony, it’s ridiculous, and it’s entertaining. In other words, Reservoir Hill is the television equivalent of a V.C. Andrews book, minus the incest. (Although, you know, I wouldn’t put it past this show to make that happen in Season 2.)

Sarah lives in Austin, and believes there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure, which is part of why she started FYA in 2009. Growing up, she thought she was a Mary Anne, but she's finally starting to accept the fact that she's actually a Kristy.